When Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi announced her pregnancy on the cover of Us Weekly in March, skeptics wondered if the hard-partying "Jersey Shore" star would be ready for motherhood.

The pint-sized 24-year-old, however, never doubted her ability to raise a child. "I can't wait to meet my kid!" she tells V's Americana Issue (on stands May 10). "Everyone will be surprised to see a different side of me. I'm loving, caring, sensitive, protective and very maternal, no matter what people might think."

Polizzi is used to having people underestimate and tease her. "I've been bullied my whole life. In high school, me and my girlfriends were freshmen and we were all pretty girls in cheerleading and stuff, so the older girls would bully us because all of their guys want to hang out with us."

The MTV reality star admits she has "a lot of haters" but their words mean nothing to her. "I mean, people used to say I was fat hen I was the hottest thing ever. Imagine what they say now."

"I am probably the number one most-bullied celebrity," she adds. "I really don't go with trends, I don't try to fit in like everyone else does in Hollywood. I just like to be different and I don't care."

Polizzi -- engaged to Jionni LaValle, 24 -- has already devised a plan to capitalize on the next phase of her life. "My ideas are endless," she tells V. "Who wouldn't want a leopard-print rattle or a cheetah-print bib?"